layer cake

As with much of my spur of the moment baking, this was the result of perusing Pinterest right after my kids went down for naps. I saw this amazing looking chocolate cake and had to have it. Now.

Perfect Chocolate Cake | Hottie Biscotti

As luck would have it I had all the ingredients (and you probably do, too!) which makes this a terrific cake to make at the last minute. I decided to make it around 2 in the afternoon and it was cooled and frosted and ready to consume by 5. Both the cake and the frosting come together so quickly. Making this cake was a great use of nap time. It was also a great way to take my mind off of the fact that my due date was going to come and go without meeting our new babe! If only chocolate cake induced labor…

I’ve had this cake before and remember asking who made it and if I could get the recipe. For some reason I was surprised to find out it was a Hershey’s recipe. I shouldn’t have been, I guess. The best oatmeal cookie recipe is found on the top of the Quaker oats container, after all! I didn’t use Hershey’s cocoa, though. I had just enough Guittard cocoa left, so that is what I used. The cake is moist and chocolatey and comforting, as chocolate cake should be. The frosting is sweet and rich yet light and not dense. I added a layer of crushed Oreos in between the layers of cake and also pressed some into the sides of the frosted cake and sprinkled some on top. It adds some nice texture both in appearance and in your mouth, but it also helps to disguise a sloppy frosting job…which mine definitely was.

You can make this in 9-inch cake pans, like I did, or in a 9×13 pan, 3 8-inch pans, a bundt pan, or you can make cupcakes. I can easily see this becoming my new go-to chocolate cake recipe.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add in oil, milk, eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.

Add in the boiling water and mix to combine. The batter will be very thin, and that’s ok!

Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for 30-35 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.

Let cool in the pans on wire racks for 15 minutes, then turn out onto the racks to let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

Measure cocoa into a medium sized bowl. Melt butter and pour into the cocoa and whisk to combine.

Using a mixer, beat in powdered sugar and milk alternately in 5 batches (sugar, milk, sugar, milk, sugar). Add in more sugar if you want the frosting to be a little thicker. Stir in the vanilla.

Frost the cake, layering some of the Oreos in between the layers and press some onto the edges. Serve immediately or let chill in the fridge for an hour if your house is especially warm (like mine was!).

This little cake is the cutest and most perfect Valentine’s treat for you and your special someone. It would also be the perfect birthday cake for a small party or as part of a dessert buffet.

Cupcakes are delicious and easy and not as much trouble as a layer cake. And you can probably get wonderful cupcakes at a number of bakeries near you since they are still pretty popular and trendy. I have some favorites here in Houston that I visit whenever I’m in the neighborhood, Celebrity being my cupcake bakery of choice. Try the s’mores on Wednesday or Sunday. It’ll change your life. Buying a cupcake for yourself is much more acceptable than buying an entire cake for yourself.

But when you’re wanting something a little extra special a layer cake fits the bill much better than even the most fancy cupcake. Making an 8 or 9-inch cake is probably not something you want to do when you’re making dessert for two because then you’re stuck eating what’s left for a week or, God forbid, throwing it away. Tragedy! This darling 4-inch cake is the perfect size for two, and could really feed 4 or even 6 light eaters.

The cake recipe is from Baked Explorations and is a simple one that comes together easily and bakes up nicely. I was able to get 2 4-inch cakes and a dozen cupcakes out of the batter. I did have an issue with the cupcakes baking and spreading out instead of up, and sticking a little to the pan. So be careful when filling, 2/3 is just fine, and if they do spread onto the pan just use some care when removing them, otherwise the tops will separate from the bottoms. The final cake is a nice balance of substantial yet moist, has a nice chocolate flavor and isn’t too sweet. The coffee in the batter isn’t detectable, it just enhances the chocolate flavor. I used 2 4-inch springform pans that I bought at Hobby Lobby when I made a smash cake for Betsy back in September. At the time I wasn’t sure how much use I’d get out of them or how they’d hold up, but now I’m sure they were a good purchase.

The frosting is from Tasty Kitchen, Pioneer Woman’s recipe sharing site. Can you tell I’m kind of obsessed with her? I can honestly say I haven’t made anything she’s endorsed that I haven’t loved and wanted to make again and tell everyone about. This frosting is a little weird, cooking together flour and milk as the base, but if Ree says it’s good I go for it. And it is very good. It takes some patience (and a stand mixer) but is really nice and smooth, velvety even. It’s lovely, buttery, and not so sugary sweet. The amount the recipe made iced the cake and a dozen cupcakes just about perfectly. I also love the contrast of deep dark chocolate cake to pure white frosting. Opt for a chocolate frosting if you just can’t imagine chocolate cake with anything but chocolate frosting.

I cut my two 4-inch cakes in half to create a four layer cake. I filled the first and third layer with a little raspberry preserves, but you can leave it out completely, or use cherry or strawberry. In order to fill the layer without it oozing out the sides, create a dam of icing around the perimeter of the cake layer and fill the inside with the preserves. The best tool for this is a pastry bag with a large round tip, but a plastic bag with a small corner cut off would work as well.

For the toppers I found some sticky felt hearts at a craft store and simply stuck two together with a toothpick between them. You could also cut hearts from craft paper and decorate them, or make glittered hearts for a fancy sparkling topper. You could leave the cake plain, white, simple and clean. Or top with a few raspberries, cherries or strawberries.

I added a little bowl of Valentine’s colored M&Ms to the table to photograph this cake to add some color. That is what initially drew this little taste tester to the table. But he ended up really enjoying the cake. I couldn’t help but put this picture in since his stripes just so happen to coordinate with the cake. I have a blog for the kids, so I told myself I’d make this just a food blog, but so far they’ve managed to sneak their way into 3 posts. So I’ve changed my tune and you’ll likely see more of the tiny taste testers in the future. Enjoy!

Grease 2 4-inch cake pans (or 2 8-inch cake pans and line them with parchment) and then dust with cocoa powder. Line one muffin tin with cupcake liners, if using. Set aside.

Break up chocolate and place it and the cocoa powder in a heat proof bowl. Pour hot coffee over and whisk to melt chocolate until the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the milk and set aside.

In a small bowl whisk flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine butter and sugars and beat until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add in vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds.

With the mixer on low, add the flour and chocolate mixture, alternating between the two, starting and ending with flour in a total of 5 additions (flour, chocolate, flour, chocolate, flour). Beating just to combine between additions. Fold together with a spatula to make sure it’s evenly mixed.

Divide the batter between the pans, filling 4-inch pans about 2/3 full, cupcakes 2/3 full and simply divide the batter equally for 8-inch pans.

Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, 4-inch cakes for 25-30 minutes, and 8-inch cakes for 35-40 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean when they’re done.

Let cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove and let cool completely on wire racks.

For the Frosting

Combine flour and milk in a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes thick, like brownie batter. This happens quickly once it starts to thicken and if you don’t whisk it, then it will be lumpy with bits of cooked flour and you’ll have to start over.

Remove from the heat, continuing to stir/whisk for a minute. Stir in the vanilla, then let it cool completely to room temperature. If it is still warm when you continue with the recipe it won’t come out right. (At least that’s what the original directions say, I haven’t tested it and probably won’t with such a warning!)

In a stand mixer combine the butter and sugar and cream until light and fluffy and the graininess of the sugar has decreased or is completely gone. Mine never got totally non-grainy, but beat for about 5 minutes.

Add the completely cooled flour mixture to the butter and sugar and beat on medium-high until it is light and fluffy. If it looks separated, continue to beat it until it resembles whipped cream. This took around 8 minutes.

Assemble the cake

Slice both cake layers in half, getting them as even and as straight as possible. A serrated knife is good for this.

Plop a little frosting in the center of the cake plate and lay the first layer down. This keeps it from moving around while frosting. Tear a few strips of wax or parchment paper and slide them just barely underneath the cake. This keeps the cake plate clean while you frost. Just slide them out after you finish.

Prepare a piping bag with a large round tip and fill with about 1/2 cup of frosting. Spread a little layer of frosting on the cake layer, then pipe a circle around the edge of the layer. Spread a thin layer, about 1 tablespoon, of raspberry preserves inside of the circle, then top with the next layer and press down slightly.

Spread a nice layer of frosting on the layer, then top with the next layer.

Repeat the raspberry filling layer, then finish with the last layer.

Frost the cake with a thin coat of frosting, being careful not to contaminate the bog bowl of frosting with any chocolate bits. Set in the fridge for an hour. This is a crumb coat. Frost with another coat, thicker this time, this is the final coat. Decorate as desired.

Springtime calls for desserts like this. Fresh flavors that don’t weigh you down or make you feel too full. This light citrus cake is filled with fresh raspberries and topped with a sweet cream cheese glaze-like frosting. It was the perfect end to the Mother’s Day lunch we had last weekend with some of our friends. The kids played in the pool while we sat outside enjoying the perfectly warm and breezy weather while eating our cake. I’d enjoy a day like that again anytime.

This recipe is from Cooking Light, and I chose it because I’d made it years ago and remembered it being really tasty. The original recipe calls for lemonade concentrate, which I could not find. Weird, right? They had all kinds of juice concentrate, and lots of frozen drink mixers, but no lemonade. I used limeade instead and it was great. My only complaint with the use of juice concentrate in this recipe is that you’re left with a lot left over. If I’d been thinking about not being wasteful, I’d have frozen the rest in ice cube trays and used them to ice down a pitcher of punch or something. But I don’t always think about stuff like that when it matters. I think about it after I’ve tossed what I could have saved.

I added the berries in the middle of the cake because I thought it needed some color and berries are a perfect match for citrus. Blueberries would have also been nice in the center, or a combination of the two. I squished and flattened the raspberries as I layered them on the cake to make sure they made a nice even blanket of berries.

A good thing to know about the cake is that the tops get sticky. When you take them out of the pans to cool, set them bottom side down or else the tops will stick to the cooling racks and make you very frustrated when you try to move them. I am speaking from personal experience and am trying to save you some heartache.

The frosting/glaze gave me some trouble when I frosted/glazed the cake. It’s not thin, like a glaze, but not quite thick enough to be used as frosting. It could be the concentrate that makes the consistency a bit sticky and strange, but it still tastes good. I thought about adding more sugar, but didn’t so as not to make it too ridiculously sweet. The final product wasn’t as pretty and clean as I would have hoped, but it was delicious. I made the cake the night before and refrigerated it overnight. This cake stores very well in the fridge. I did notice a little sugary crunch to the frosting when eaten cold from the fridge, but not so much after it had warmed up slightly. This recipe is one that I’ll come back to. I might try it as cupcakes for a baby shower I’m helping with in June.

Carson enjoyed this cake. Or maybe he just enjoyed the fact that I was letting him have his way with a real fork and a nice big slice of cake…

To prepare cake, place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat well after each addition.

Pour batter into cake pans; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare frosting, place butter, cream cheese, concentrate, zest and vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat). Chill 1 hour.

Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.